Qi Song stared at him for a long moment before finally responding with a quiet, neutral “mm.”
When Chi Zhan didn’t want to talk, he never forced him.
But even Qi Song didn’t know how long he could keep pretending not to care.
Chu Xingxiao was merely a spark—but the explosion that followed was bound to happen eventually.
It had been quite a while since Qi Song last logged into the Song Guang account. As soon as both of them logged in, the system messages popped up at the same time:
Your boyfriend [Chi-Chi Baby] is now online～
Your boyfriend [Song Guang] is now online～
Chi Zhan glanced at the notifications absentmindedly, then did a double take when he caught the note Qi Song had set for him.
A flush rose to his cheeks in an instant.
And of course, Qi Song just happened to glance at him right then. Busted for peeking, Chi Zhan had no choice but to confess, “That nickname you gave me…”
Qi Song, calm as ever, didn’t see anything wrong with it.
“You asked for it. You used to call me ‘darling’ all the time,” Qi Song added. “And insisted I call you ‘baby.’”
Chi Zhan’s blood pressure skyrocketed.
“Wait, what—?!”
No way!
Was he really that sappy back then?
Secretary Chi was suddenly questioning his entire existence.
Had he not only been reformatted, but had his whole personality rewritten too?
Then he caught the faintest curl at the corner of Qi Song’s lips and realized what was going on.
“You’re messing with me again?!”
“What, I can’t?” Qi Song said lazily. “You even abandoned the cat. Meow-Meow’s feelings are hurt.”
***
Chen Che had finally finished today’s game tasks. His fingers were numb, and he sprawled out dramatically, whining, “So tired, so freaking tired. Where the hell is Captain Qi? It’s already afternoon—don’t tell me he’s still holed up at Secretary Chi’s place.”
Other people’s relationships never used to hit him this hard. But ever since Qi Song got into one, it felt like emotional shrapnel just kept hitting him wave after wave.
It wasn’t even like they were flaunting their affection on purpose—so why did it make people so damn envious? He wanted to date Secretary Chi too!
But of course, he couldn’t say that out loud. If Captain Qi ever caught wind of it, he’d never live to see the next sunrise.
Wen An said dryly, “The look on your face right now is exactly like those folks in the ‘Death by Love’ club.”
Chen Che immediately straightened up.
“I’m just plain envious, okay? Don’t tell me you’ve never felt even a little tempted?”
He tapped the keyboard twice, about to log out, when he suddenly noticed Secretary Chi was online. He immediately sent an invite—but the other party was already in a match. Disappointed, he backed out.
“Wanna play a round? Secretary Chi’s gaming too, but he’s already in a match. Maybe we can catch him next round.”
“Didn’t you just say you never wanted to touch this game again?”
“That was then,” Chen Che launched into nonsense mode. “Now is now. Plus, I still haven’t hit my livestream quota.”
Wen An looked at him like he was hopeless but let himself get dragged into a match anyway. Neither of them were particularly focused—Chen Che even opened his livestream system on a second screen. By the time he toggled back to the game, the character selection phase had already begun.
“Hey fam, I’m live again. Just gonna play some solo queue today.”
Wen An got up to pour himself some water. Suddenly, Chen Che exclaimed, “Holy sh*t!” Not once, not twice, but three times—with increasing levels of shock.
“No way. Our opponents… one of them is Secretary Chi. And the rest are total strangers.”
“No Captain Qi?” Wen An leaned in to check.
Chen Che squinted at the screen and gasped again. “Am I seeing this right? Secretary Chi has a couple status with one of them?!”
“Wait… don’t tell me Captain Qi got cheated on?!”
Someone actually had the balls to cheat on Captain Qi?! That thought was… disturbingly thrilling. Ahem, no—absolutely unbelievable!
To be fair, couple tags in this game didn’t always mean anything. Especially recently, since the developers had rolled out a new couple mode packed with lucrative rewards. Tons of players were pairing up just to rake in the bonuses. Totally normal.
Even Chen Che had considered teaming up with Wen An for the perks—only to be shot down cold.
“You should probably turn off the livestream,” Wen An advised.
Chi Zhan hadn’t expected to match into Chen Che either. He hadn’t noticed at first—until he saw the familiar squad ID. Pretty hard to miss.
Chen Che had barely started his stream before shutting it down in a panic. Then he dove back into the match, frantically trying to figure out who Secretary Chi’s “couple” partner was.
While Chen Che was losing his mind, Wen An had already regained his calm.
“Is it another guy?” Chen Che muttered as he combed through the list like a detective. “Oh—‘Song Guang’? Seriously? His name even has ‘Song’ in it too! Same as Captain Qi! Wait, wait… could Captain Qi be the side piece, and this guy the real deal?!”
“…You need to get your head checked.”
Meanwhile, Chi Zhan tilted his head.
“Is that… Chen Che on the other team?”
He’d only planned to play a few matches to clear his daily quests. He’d queued as a Marksman, and the moment the match began, the enemy Jungler ganked his lane. Before he could even retreat, a speech bubble popped up above the attacker’s head:
Secretary Chi, it’s me! It’s me!!
Chi Zhan glanced at the player’s ID—yep, definitely Chen Che.
Now the question was: Should he fight back… or not?
Qi Song cut in, cool and composed.
“Ignore it. Play.”
“Are you sure?”
Chi Zhan glanced at the flurry of heart emojis and smiling faces Chen Che was still sending his way, clearly delighted. He hesitated.
Qi Song had already stepped forward and stunned the enemy, his tone devoid of any old teammate sentiment.
“Holding back would just be an insult.”
Right. These guys were professional esports players—going easy on someone was practically an affront.
Despite his lingering doubts, Chi Zhan was convinced.
Qi Song had activated his skills, and Chi Zhan’s ult had just come off cooldown. He unleashed it.
The Jungler—already fragile to begin with—was instantly blown to pieces in the bush, the heart emoji still floating above his head.
“……What just killed me?!”
“That’s what you get for going up to flirt with Secretary Chi. Did you really think Captain Qi wouldn’t mind?”
